Toilet Seat Down or Up? This Poka Yoke Forces You to Put Toilet Seat Down

By shmula, Last Updated October 27, 2011

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Toilet Seat Down or Up? With this trick, you’re guaranteed to always have the toilet seat down.

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My family and I recently returned from a vacation. We went on a cruise – our first one. And, our experience was great. I highly recommend going on a cruise – much more affordable than Disneyland, that’s for sure.

There are other benefits too, but what I want to highlight today is an ingenious Poka-Yoke method for Toilets.

Have you ever been yelled at by your spouse or significant other for keeping the toilet lid up? Did you ever wish that there was a device that prevented you from making a mistake such as not placing the toilet lid down?

Well, the Poka-Yoke approach I found on the Carnival Cruise cabin eliminates that defect (it’ll prevent being yelled at).

Notice the toilet below in our cruise cabin. Do you see the toilet knob to flush?

In order to flush this toilet, you must place the toilet lid down because the flush handle is behind it. In other words, to flush, you have to place the toilet down.

It’s a simple solution, and will work 99% of the time. If you are sharing a cabin, then there is no way you would want to “leave” stuff in the toilet for your spouse/kids etc. to see. And if you’re on your own – well who cares? Locating the flush behind the lid is easy in mechanical terms, as the water tank is located in the wall behind the lid. But trying to link the flush to the door release is messy, costly and if it breaks down – well you can’t flush the toilet.

About Shmula

First, let’s talk about why this website is useful for you. Like you, I’m battling to become better and trying to put a small dent in my corner of the universe. I write about the struggle that we all face to become better leaders, better workers, and better people. I write about Lean and Six Sigma principles, and how we can put them into practice at our companies, in our businesses, and how to improve the customer experience. Get started by learning about Lean >